IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Double whammy - extreme rain and floods delay cleanup of massive tar sands oil spill in Iowa; CDC says diseases caused by ticks and mosquitoes have tripled in the U.S., thanks to global warming; If it seems like we're getting more torrential downpours and floods, it's because we are; PLUS: A new ad on Fox News, aimed at one person, hopes to stop a new bridge for Detroit... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

"They're working diligently to get that done," Reynolds said of efforts to get a temporary road built, "so that equipment can reach the site to pull out the piled-up train cars and advance the cleanup."

Things are definitely getting more extreme," said Andreas ­Prein, an atmospheric scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. "You just have to look at the records. All areas of the continental U.S. have seen increases in peak rainfall rates in the past 50 years. And there is a chance that we are underestimating the risk, actually." ...And the area covered by each storm also is getting larger, Prein said, another major factor in the increased precipitation.

One of the more dramatic changes is the increasing number of "mega-rain" events: rainstorms during which at least 6 inches of rain falls over at least 1,000 square miles and the center of the storm drops more than 8 inches of rain. Minnesota has had 11 mega-rains since 1973, and eight of them have come since 2000.

Warmer weather is an important cause of the surge, according to the lead author of a study published in the C.D.C.’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. But the author, Dr. Lyle R. Petersen, the agency’s director of vector-borne diseases, declined to link the increase to the politically fraught issue of climate change, and the report does not mention climate change or global warming.

Increased climate fluctuations, largely due to human activity, can also affect how vector-borne diseases spread. Warmer climates may allow mosquitoes to survive in areas previously too cold to support them.

MI: Wealthy family's new ad, aimed at Trump, tries to stop new bridge for Detroit:

Michigan officials said the ad is not based in fact. "Most importantly, the Gordie Howe International Bridge will be jointly owned by Canada and Michigan," MDOT's Fischer said. Canada is supplying Michigan’s $550 million share of costs for the new span, and that amount will be repaid to Canada through bridge tolls. The ad also "falsely" suggests that steel used to build the Gordie Howe bridge will come from overseas, Fischer said... The bridge's construction will employ both Michigan and other American workers, Fischer stressed.

For years, the Moroun family which owns and operates Detroit's Ambassador Bridge, has been battling — in court, in ballot referendums, in the Statehouse and the U.S. Capitol — arguing that a Canadian-built, Canadian-financed rival bridge makes no economic sense, violates the law and will unfairly hurt its business. Now, the Morouns have a new argument — patriotism — and they're taking their plea to the top amid a budding trade war and open animosity between the U.S. and its northern ally.

To stabilize global temperature, net carbon dioxide emissions must be reduced to zero. The window of time is rapidly closing to reduce emissions and limit warming to no more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit or 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, the goal set in the Paris climate accord. The further we push the climate system beyond historical conditions, the greater the risks of potentially unforeseen and even catastrophic changes to the climate - so every reduction in emissions helps.

Clean-energy enthusiasts frequently claim that we can go bigger, that it's possible for the whole world to run on renewables - we merely lack the "political will." So, is it true? Do we know how get to an all-renewables system? Not yet. Not really.